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We have the response body as a String. Let's convert it into an Object so that we can access the data more programmatically.
API URL
Due to a recent change in the routing of our website the path as shown in the video is no longer working. You'll want to change the URL to be:
// Connect to the API URL
https://teamtreehouse.com/profiles/csalgado.json
Documentation
Snippet
function printMessage(username, badgeCount, points) {
const message = `${username} has ${badgeCount} total badge(s) and ${points} points in JavaScript`;
console.log(message);
}
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Let's add some finishing touches to our
functionality and do some cleaning up.
0:00
I'll rearrange these comments.
0:05
It appears there's still more work to do.
0:26
We want to print out a message
containing profile information,
0:30
so let's add a function to handle
printing our badge and point totals.
0:33
I've included a snippet for
you to copy in the teacher's notes.
0:38
Put this at the top.
0:48
Save.
1:00
Remember, for
our app we went the badgeCount and
1:02
JavaScript points printed out.
1:05
Next, let's store our parse response or
1:14
body in its own variable so
we can work with it better.
1:16
We'll name this profile.
1:23
Now we can access the badges and
1:40
points as properties
on the profile object.
1:42
We'll call the printMessage function.
1:47
We'll add a call to
the printMessage function, but
1:50
there's one more thing we
need to do before that.
1:53
Our code is inflexible, it only searches
for the username hard coded into the URL.
1:56
Let's allow this function to take
the username as an argument.
2:03
We'll make the string a template literal.
2:10
So we can interpolate
the username variable here.
2:15
Okay?
2:24
Now down in printMessage,
we can pass in username.
2:26
Next, we'll access
the badges on the profile.
2:31
And badges is an array,
so we'll use length.
2:37
And finally, we'll access the points.
2:44
I'll save that.
2:51
Add a call to getProfile with the new
username, or the same username.
2:58
Let's make sure this is a string.
3:05
Now, when we run Node app.js,
We get our message.
3:12
Carlos has 236 total badges and...
uh-oh
3:20
let's use console.dir check out
the points property once more.
3:25
Run the app again.
3:33
And the points property is an object.
3:38
A property of that object is JavaScript.
3:42
That's the total we want, so
3:45
we'll use that notation to
access the JavaScript property.
3:46
Now we'll remove console.dir.
4:01
Save again.
4:04
Perfect.
4:13
Carlos has 236 total badges and
10,381 points in JavaScript.
4:14
In the browser, we have a global window
object that stores information about
4:23
a given window.
4:27
Node has its own global object,
it's called the process.
4:29
The process contains information about
the location of Node on your computer,
4:33
as well as the file being executed and
any arguments we enter at execution.
4:37
We can log out the process object
to examine it ourselves using dir.
4:42
One important property is argv
4:47
Let's clear
5:07
this up.
5:08
And run the app.
5:09
Again, we get a lot of information.
5:13
One important argument is argv.
5:16
Argv gives us the node binary file,
our app.js, and
5:19
it normally contains an array of
arguments we enter into the command line.
5:22
Let's try this.
5:32
Now argv contains the two arguments
I entered after node app js.
5:39
We can use this to our
advantage in our program.
5:45
In our program, we can access argv and
store the arguments entered.
5:47
Create a variable called users.
5:52
We don't need the first two arguments,
so we can use the slice method to get
6:03
rid of those and only store the command
line arguments entered after.
6:07
Save. Now,
6:14
our getProfile function
doesn't take an array.
6:16
However, we can use the forEach method,
to call the getProfile function for
6:20
any names entered.
6:24
We'll remove this call,
our other console.dir statement.
6:37
Again, clear this up,
try something a little different here.
6:49
I'll enter both Carlos Salgado and
Jennifer Nordell.
6:55
Carlos has 236 badges,
while Jennifer has 1,625.
7:01
Excellent job.
7:08
You've learned about connecting to an API,
retrieving data, and
7:09
accessing command line
arguments in your program.
7:13
You're getting a handle on node,
7:16
and can demonstrate some of the benefits
of its asynchronous nature.
7:18
Our app is working great,
7:22
but what if there is an error
trying to connect to the API?
7:23
Or you've accidentally spelled
something incorrectly in URL?
7:27
Coming up, we'll find out how we can
watch out for errors in our node apps and
7:31
how asynchronous programs
handle errors differently.
7:35
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